HouseMart Ace Hardware Pāhoa Reopens Its Doors After Lava Flow Stalls

Pāhoa, Hawaiʻi (February 2, 2015) – HouseMart Ace Hardware Pāhoa employees welcomed back the Puna community yesterday with open doors after closing last December due to the lava threat.

Store manager Don Adkins and his staff had been hard at work the past few weeks in getting the store back up after comments from loyal customers saying they wanted their “hardware store back.”

The Pāhoa employees were relocated to other East Hawaiʻi HouseMart stores but with the store re-opening, they are back at their home store.

HouseMart Ace Hardware Pahoa’s chief operations officer Cory Chagami said, “Although there is still a threat of lava being present in the area, we are confident with our communications with Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense that our decision to return to the Puna community is a safe one for our neighbors, employees and our operations.”

HouseMart is family-owned and operates six Ben Franklin Crafts stores and 24 Ace Hardware stores in Hawaiʻi, Washington, Oregon and Nevada. Headquartered in Honolulu, the 60-year-old company began as a small dry goods store and has grown into a multi-state business run by its third generation owners. The company prides itself on exceptional service and creative solutions to enhance its customers’ lifestyles. For more information about HouseMart, visit hmstores.com or call (808) 838-7773.

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Photo: HouseMart Ace Hardware Pahoa employee Ken Ranne shows customer Joseph Mathieu a bottle of fertilizer at the newly reopened store. Ranne was one of the employees who was transferred to other company stores, but is now back at his home store.